DON'T KNOW.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 20, 10 September 1886, Page 16

DON'T KNOW.

§HE three Emperors of Germany, Austria, and Russia, and Prince Bismarck may know the reasons of the events that have lately transpired in Bulgaria ; but so far as the public are aware nobody else does. The facts are pretty well known from the various telegrams on Bulgarian affairs lately received here. It is, therefore, ~^~ unnecessary to recapitulate them. Since we last wrote on this subject, Prince Alexander, who, on his return to Bulgaria on his release from what may be truly called Russian captivity, was so enthusiastically received by his subjects, has, according to last accounts, voluntarily abdicated in consequence, it is ssid, of the disgust of the Bulgarians at his subserviency to the Emperor of Russia. If this be true, it would appear that the Russian plot has entirely succeeded so far. The ease with which a sovereign Prince, even at the head of his troops, could be made prisoner by Russian officers, must have convinced Prince Alexander that it was not his interest to disoblige Russia in any way ; and it would also appear that he became in point of fact only too convinced of this. Notwithstanding, then, the barbarous treatment he had received at the hands of Russians, he, so we are told, apologised to the Russian Emperor for disregarding his Imperial Majesty's suggestions as to the government of his principality. This was a proceeding little to the taste of his subjects, who looked upon it as paltry and contemptible. Seeing himself despised by his subjects, and, of course, laughed at both by his friends and enemies, he felt he must resign. He has fallen, therefore, beneath the contempt caused by the unjustifiable and cruel treatment of Russians. But the question now in the mouth of everyone is, What next ? We don't know, nor do we think there are many who do, so various and conflicting are the reasons on which it depends. In meditating on this matter, it will be well to place before the mind what is, or, at all events, appears to be certain in reference to this subject. In the first place, it is certain that Russia longs I for the possession of Constantinople. Since the time of i Peter the Great her policy has invariably been directed by i this as a paramount idea, and she has never ceased, whenever practicable, to move in the direction of this city, at one time by way of Europe, at another through Asia. And there can be no doubt that her interference now in Bulgarian affairs has been suggested by the same idea. Again, it has been for a long time the settled policy of England to prevent the realisation of this idea of Russia's. For this it was England went to the Crimea and the Baltic in 1854; | for this Lord Beaconsfield took possession of Cyprus and , laboured at the Berlin Congress. Thus far we stand on firm ground ; this much is certain. But what is inexplicable, if true, is the policy and conduct of the two great Empires that hold central Europe — Germany and Austria. So far as we can see, it is not for the interest of either that Russia should become still more powerful in Europe than she is at present. Her possession of Warsaw and the kingdom of Poland brings her into the very heart of Europe and gives her a powerful voice in European affairs, and the possession of Constantinople would, in the words of the first Napoleon, give her the empire of the world. Her fleet would then have free access to the Mediterranean Sea, and place her in a position to dispute the supremacy of the seas with England. Perhaps, indeed, this is what Germany and Austria intend. There can be little doubt that these Empires, particularly Germany, would be glad to see the naval power of England abated, and the creation of a state of things less unfavourable to her rivalry of Great Britain in the trade of the world than the present. All, paiticularly Englishmen, will follow with great interest and anxiety the development of the present crisis. Russia, it is said, is massing troops on the Bessarabian frontier, and if so, we may be certain that we shall hear before long that a powerful British fleet is anchored before Constantinople. What will Germany, and Austria, and France do ? We don't know, and must wait on events. All we can say now is, that the times are anxious and perilous.